A member of the Christian Apologetics Alliance recently asked:

Question: In the old testament God outlines an entire list of dos and do nots for the Jews to follow. Among them is dietary regulation (Kosher food=♥).

In the New Testament Christ says,”until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.”

Does that include dietary restrictions? Paul suggests in 1 Corintians 8, “But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. ” And Christ Himself says, “What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’

So my question is thus, if Christ said that not a letter of the law would be removed until heaven and earth disappear and everything is accomplished but says also that what we eat doesn’t necessarily matter because it can’t make us unclean, is he contradicting Himself since in Leviticus 11 God dictates what Israelites were and weren’t suppose to eat?

I’ve heard this objection from 1000 different atheists, worded exactly the way this girl just framed it.  What most people fail to take away from Matthew 5:17-20 is one little snippet in v. 18, which qualifies the otherwise sweeping statement of nothing in the Law will pass away “until all is fulfilled.”  So, what is the fulfillment of the Law?  Christ himself.

Christ fulfilled the righteous requirement of the Law, so that means that we don’t have to.  We now live by faith, not by works of Law.  Which means the short answer to this inquiry is, “No, we’re not held to dietary restrictions.”

The long answer is a matter of context.  The historical context of Leviticus is a code of priestly conduct for the Aaronic priesthood.  The letter to the Hebrews explains that Christ’s high priesthood is a heavenly fulfillment of that former priesthood–the Aaronic priesthood was a mere shadow of the heavenly intervention of Christ for his people.  Hebrews 7-9 explains this idea more fully.

The historical context of Deuteronomy was a suzerainty treaty between God and the nation of Israel.  When Israel ceased to be, and the final remnants of the southern kingdom of Judah was obliterated by the Babylonians, Deuteronomy lost its force.  At the end of the day, these things have no bearing on us as Christians and we are free to disregard them.

But should we?  Yes and no.  If we try to live by the Law, we must live by every single dot and stroke of the pen, otherwise we become guilty of all of it (see Jms 2:10).  That’s pretty oppressive, but it is true.  Despite the contention of those in the Pelagian (and semi-Pelagian) camp, it is not possible to fully abide by the Law.  If it were, we wouldn’t need Christ.

So what’s the Law good for, then?  Instruction (Rom 15:4; cf. 2 Tim 3:16-17).  Instead of attempting to rigidly adhere to every letter of the Law, we live by the Spirit of the Law (2 Cor 3:6; cf. Rom 2:25-29).

What this means is that we read the Law to extract its godly principles, not to try to duplicate all of the behaviors prescribed in it.  To this end, realize that the Law is divided into three general categories–the ceremonial and dietary laws, the cultural norms of the day, and universal moral principles.

The ceremonial and dietary laws we need not pay attention to those anymore (see Acts 10).  Jesus has declared that everything is clean; what defiles us is not what we take in, but what comes out (Mt 15:10-20).  Rather than just being good in our minds, inwardly, because we rigidly follow a prescribed set of regulations, Jesus wanted our actions, outwardly, to be reflective of that inward moral character.  Why else would Jesus’ brother challenge us to bridle our tongue (Jms 3:1-12)?

The cultural norms, on the other hand, can yield godly principles without being strictly obeyed.  For example, who would put a railing around their roof (Deut 22:8)?  No one!  Though a balcony should have that railing in place.  Why?  In the time of the Exodus, people’s roofs were used as another room.  They slept up there.  They entertained up there.  So, as a result, the railing makes a lot of sense.  The modern balcony would be an analogous structure to that ancient roof, so we put railings around all balconies in fulfillment of this Law.

The universal moral principles speak for themselves.  They are universal, which means they are still in force today.  It’s still wrong to steal, murder, cheat on spouses, and lie.

I hope this lays the issue to rest.  I know it’s a tricky area even for Christians, because it is tempting to throw the whole Law away since we’re saved entirely by grace apart from works of Law.  But that’s not good; while we can’t attain justification through works, we are still exhorted to live in a manner worthy of the calling we have received (Eph 4:1; Phil 1:27; Col 1:10; 1 The 2:12; and cf. 2 Pet 1:3-11).  Good works complete and supplement our faith (Jms 2:14-26), and as I like to say, our works make our faith more real.